1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a food production apparatus which is preferably used in the preparation of foods such as fried potatoes. The invention includes extrusion shaping means in which powder obtained by pulverizing and drying potatoes or the like is provided with water and stirred, and the resulting mixture is extruded to be formed into a predetermined shape.
2. Description of the related art
Conventionally, in order to prepare foods such as fried potatoes, an apparatus is used which slices potato to form slices, and fries the slices while carrying them on a conveyor, transferring the slices through a storage bath for storing edible oil which has been previously heated to a predetermined temperature.
This prior art apparatus is constructed so as to process perishable foods such as potatoes, and therefore has a problem in that, when the apparatus is not operated for a prolonged period of time, the freshness of the potatoes is lowered, resulting in that the quality of produced foods is degraded. Since the apparatus is so constructed that slices carried on a conveyor are transferred through a storage bath, there is another problem in that the transfer path must be relatively long in order to sufficiently heat the slices, with the result that the apparatus becomes large in size.
Furthermore, in the prior art, when powder obtained by pulverizing and drying potatoes or the like is provided with water and mixed, and the resulting mixture is extruded to be formed into a predetermined shape, the series of these process steps cannot be performed by a single device. Accordingly, in the prior art apparatus a device for stirring and mixing powder and water, and an extrusion shaping device for extruding the resulting mixture to be formed into a predetermined shape are separately installed.
Therefore, this prior art apparatus has a problem in that, when a small amount of a mixture is extruded, the mixture sticks to the inner surface of a casing which constitutes a mixing chamber, resulting a low yield. In contrast, when a large amount of a mixture is extruded, the extruded mixture may become rotten unless all portions of the extruded mixture is immediately further processed, e.g., fried.
A prior art apparatus for preparing foods such as cookies using a mixture of powder, such as wheat flour, and water, is independently provided with a stirring and mixing device for stirring and mixing the powder and a water, and shaping device for forming the mixture obtained by the stirring and mixing device into a predetermined shape. In this prior art apparatus, the operator carries the mixture obtained by the stirring and mixing device to supply it to the shaping device, and then collects the shaped mixture which has been extruded through extrusion holes, and thereafter the collected mixture is heated to be baked by a heating device such as an oven, which is separately installed.
In the prior art apparatus, since the stirring and mixing device and the shaping device are independently installed, the operator must carry the mixture obtained by the stirring and mixing device to supply it to the shaping device as described above. This requires much labor and causes the productivity to be low. Moreover, since the stirring and mixing device and the shaping device are constructed in a relatively bulky size, there is a problem in that they occupy a large space in a factory or the like.